Tuesday, November 29, 2011

"I had a very angry streak to me when I first started at Moto," Top Chef contestant Chris Jones tells Metromix. "Moto's a very calm restaurant. We don’t yell, we don’t scream, we don’t fight, we don’t kick. And I did all of those things, so what I started doing is ... wearing some sunglasses on my head ... . It made me feel like I was back on a beach."

That answers the burning question everyone has about "what's up with all the headgear" Jones and his co-worker and former Top Chef competitor Richie Farina sport every week on Bravo's wildly popular culinary show.

Farina adds: "As far as the bandanas and pencils and armbands and all that stuff goes, that's what we wear every day. It wasn’t just stuff for the TV show."

MMX also asked about what they really thought about the unprecedented number of chefs from one city competing on the show:

We slipped into the friends-and-family event Sunday for Bar Toma—it opens today!—and boy was it a scene.

The casual Italian resto helmed by Spiaggia's award-winning Tony Mantuano attracted a number of heavy hitters and newsmakers, namely current Top Chef contestants Heather Terhune (Sable Kitchen & Bar) and Sarah Grueneberg (Spiaggia). The two confessed to 312DD that they've become good friends since appearing on the culinary-driven reality show.

But they didn't come to talk about the show, they came to chow down like everyone else on Mantuano's take on authentic Italian casual fare. Most of the items on the menu were offered that night, so we had the opportunity to check out a number of dishes.

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The Dish:

Audarshia Townsend's introduction to the online world began as one of the first two editors at metromix.com--where they set the tone for the entertainment site's cutting-edge style. She also has written lifestyle features for the Chicago Tribune, Essence, Los Angeles Times, Michigan Avenue, about.com, playboy.com, Huffington Post, DiningChicago.com, World's Best Bars and Upscale magazine. Additionally, she has appeared regularly on CLTV, WGN-TV and WCIU-TV's "You & Me This Morning" for cocktail-, dining- and nightlife-related features. In 2007, Audarshia launched 312DiningDiva.com, a daily dining-and-drinking blog keeping readers up to date on Chicago happenings. Her interests include staying fit with a regular Forrest Yoga practice, cycling in the city, and Flywheel Chicago classes.